Star twins. Astrology twins. Birthday twins. I’m not totally mathematical, but what are the odds of four people in two families in the same town sharing two birthdays? Mitch Posin and I share October 27. Clarissa Allen and Brooks share April 16.

It has been an April of milestone birthdays with Clarissa celebrating 70 and just a couple of days prior Alicia (Fenner) Knight celebrated the half-century mark.

I’ve never claimed to be a poet nor do I play one on TV, nevertheless, for the celebrants I am going to give it a go:

I hope 50 and 70 still feel ok.

I hope you rose happily in the morning to greet the day.

I hope you enjoyed a cup of tea 

while joyously saying “I’m glad to be me!”

I hope friends and family sang and cheered

despite pandemic birthdays being quite weird.

For April birthdays we are truly grateful

I hope your transitions to new decades are remarkably graceful. 

The Bennett family has embraced April vacation with open arms and jumped at the opportunity to visit grandmother Jane Slater. Sarah (Slater), Aaron, Scott and Jack traveled from Attleboro to spend a little quality time on Basin Road, wandering the docks and even grabbing a bite at one of their favorite eateries, Offshore Ale. The boys, now 13 and 14, appear to have absorbed grandfather Herb’s genes, having grown like weeds over the past year.

Fire Chief Jeremy Bradshaw and his bride Annie took a few away to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary. Here’s to another 30 for this couple who are happily strolling through life side by side.

Janet Weidner and Tom Ruimerman replaced their well-used minivan a few weeks ago with an updated version of the same. The perfect opportunity arose to break it in. Along with son Peter, they piled in to the car, made a pit stop in New York to pick up Janet’s sister and cruised the open road to western Virginia. The destination was the location of Peter’s twin brother Andrew and his fiancée Kimberlie Willard’s small, Covid-safe engagement party. The group spent a gorgeous Saturday morning at a local vineyard where they laughed, swapped stories and joyfully expressed how excited they all are to officially welcome Kimberlie into the family. The rest of their visit was spent working on Andrew’s classic 1981 Ford F-100.

We said farewell to Frances Todd Crandell Flanders this past week. At the age of 86 she was laid to rest alongside David in Abel’s Hill. Although her body may have finished its time on earth, her spunk, wit and spirit will live on in those who knew her. She met David a few years before they married and raised three spectacular girls together — Beth, Chris and Julie — who all went on to have grandchildren Fran truly enjoyed. I will miss our quirky conversations that always made me chuckle and I hope it eases her family’s pain knowing she and David are somehow reunited.